Andre Roberson clears up the ‘bad tipper’ fiasco on Twitter

Former Colorado Buffaloes forward and newly-minted multi-millionaire Andre Roberson has been under fire on social media since Thursday after it was revealed that he left a $13 tip on a bill close to $500.

The aggrieved party who started the drama, David Rodriguez, posted a portion of the Oklahoma City Thunder player’s receipt on Twitter on Thursday.

Roberson responded soon after to Rodriguez saying he didn’t need to tip because he was just buying a bottle of alcohol. It wasn’t being served to him. Rodriguez fired right back, saying Roberson had no tact.

Dude you obviously have no tact whatsoever. Have you worked in thus industry before dont jump on this train bro!

Naturally, without knowing all of the facts, most media outlets jumped at the chance to out another famous athlete for being a bad tipper. Especially one who the day before signed a 3-year, $30 million contract to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even some of Roberson’s teammates had fun at his expense, with Thunder Steven Adams posting this:

Roberson claims that he bought a bottle of liquor from the bar for $487. He added that it typically costs as much as $129 retail, so the bar was already making a tremendous profit on the sale. Roberson also claims that he had already bought $100 worth of shots (presumably of the same liquor) and left a $200 tip on top of that. Roberson said he decided to just buy the bottle so he would not have to wait and line up at the bar every time he wanted another shot.

He continued on the post:

But when you got BS media outlets going around saying I was at a restaurant eating… or at a bar running up a tab on food and drinks! No that’s false! Ask my man who tweeted it out, for the whole pic of the receipt then and you’ll see ONE bottle!!

If Roberson is to be believed and did in fact tip $13 on a single purchase of a $487 bottle of liquor, he should be applauded, not chastised. Yes, service industry professionals rely on tips. But if a professional athlete is going to give someone an extra $13 for essentially reaching up on a shelf and handing him a bottle, we should probably slow down dragging his name through the mud. Especially, if he did in fact tip $200 on a previous $100 tab. Seems that part, if true, was conveniently left out of the narrative by Rodriguez.